Companies to pledge help for long-term jobless

Lockheed Martin is among the companies that say they have signed on to best practices aimed at minimizing hiring discrimination against the jobless.

A handful of large corporations say they plan to sign on to a White House plan aimed at boosting hiring of the long-term unemployed.

President Obama, in his State of the Union address Tuesday, is expected to announce the initiative, which will ask companies to sign on to "best practices" that will help minimize hiring discrimination against people who have been out of work for many months or longer.

Lockheed Martin,(LMT)Xerox(XRX), Deloitte and Siemens AG(SI) confirmed their pledges to CNNMoney. The White House didn't comment on the effort.

As the economy slowly recovers from the recession, the number of workers who have not found a job for at least six months or more has grown.

Labor experts and advocates for the unemployed question how enforceable or effective such a pledge would be.

"It's a great first step," said Maurice Emsellem, director of the Access and Opportunity Program at National Employment Law Project, which advocates for the unemployed. "It can't just be about voluntary compliance and fair standards. You have to go further than that."